Believe in Hope
by DarkRoxas91
Summary: Two girls' fate will become entwined with one another as the guardians are needed once again. Pitch returns more powerful than ever with another powerful foe as an ally. As new threats arise to threaten not only the children, but the world itself, two new guardians are chosen to help protect the planet. JackXoc SandyXoc
1. Chapter 1

**Bah, I'm sorry! I'm writing a new story even though I have a couple others I need to freaking update after such a long time. It's just. . . I don't know. I deleted at least two of them and might delete another one. I don't know yet. Anyways, this one is a Rise of the Guardians fanfic and I'm kind of unsure about it. My friend, who is sort of my editor/coauthor of the story, says it's really good as a first chapter. I guess we'll have to see how it grows and blossoms. I will warn you now though: the first chapter is dark. I'm not even kidding. It's not gory dark, but it is suicide dark. I promise it'll get better though~ So I'm going to stop talking now and let you read. If you don't like it, A) don't say I didn't warn you and B) Don't leave nasty comments voicing your opinions. If you like it and want to say you like it, go right ahead. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians, but I sorely wish I did.**

Hope was a quiet and timid Junior unlike her foil Kathrine who was much more out going and aggressive. They were both into different things, and couldn't be any more opposite to each other than the fact that they were both in the garden club at school. Yet they were best friends. Kathrine was pretty much the only friend Hope had due to her constant bullying problem and the fact that she was too shy to tell anybody or ask for help. The only place she felt at home was in the garden club, where she was with her best friend and she could stay in the school garden until the school closed each day. Even though Kathrine was always with her, she never noticed how bad things got until it actually happened. . .

Kathrine, albeit having a slightly temperamental attitude, had a very pretty face. Her blue eyes had little gold flakes that were really obvious in the light. Her hair barely reached past her shoulders and was a pale blonde from long days on the beaches of California when she was younger. Again, Hope couldn't have been any more different. Her hair was a chocolate brown and went to about mid-back in waves/curls, which seemed longer for her short stature. Her eyes were the same milky brown. Nobody, especially her best friend, thought Hope would hurt herself on purpose. She had always worn large, baggy shirts to cover the cuts so that nobody would see the harm she did to herself. It got to the point where she just couldn't do it any more. It was just like any other day, but Kathrine though it seemed a bit off.

"Hope? What's wrong? Why won't you talk to me?" Kathrine asked, genuinely worried for her friend. The chocolate haired youth said nothing, but moved instead to a patch of white roses that were in bloom. After a couple of moments, she quietly responded.

"Do you believe in Santa Clause?" She asked randomly. Hope didn't look at her friend, but she seemed serious enough. Kathrine shrugged.

"I suppose. I mean, how else do I still get gifts when my parents are never home. I suppose if he's real I guess the Easter bunny and tooth fairy are real as well. Why the sudden question?" The other junior replied. Hope looked at the clock.

"Keep believing." Hope said cryptically and took her gloves off and put them away, which Kathrine found odd because she normally just threw them on the counter. Hope finally looked at her friend straight in her ocean blue eyes. "Come on, the school's closing up."

Kathrine followed her friend out of the school and up to the crossroads that separated her house from her friend's house. Hope said goodbye to her friend and watched her walk out of sight. That was when she took a different path home than she normally did. Instead of turning right into her neighborhood, she turned left into the forest. Snow had started falling softly and began piling up on the layer already on the ground. She fingered the bottle in her large sweatshirt pocket, knowing full well what she was about to do and didn't regret it. When she was younger she could imagine herself tending to flowers or animals somewhere, but her dreams had been taken from her when the first bully touched her.

Hope finally got to her destination in the middle of the forest. The snow was still falling at a steady pace and it had grown darker with the rapidly setting sun. Her chocolate hair was dotted with white flakes and tears fell from her soft brown eyes as she pulled out the bottle of tiny pills that seemed harmless at first glance. Opening the bottle, she poured most of the contents into her mouth and swallowed. Almost immediately she could feel the effects take affect on her body. Hope collapsed in the snow, her vision blurring and slowly fading. Eventually, she couldn't feel her body any more and she lay in the snow numbly until her vision slowly faded to black. The last thing she saw was a single *hellebore seemingly blooming in her final moments.

* * *

Kathrine regretted leaving Hope by herself that evening on their way home from school. Hope had seemed a bit more aloof for the past week, and especially that day. Kathrine had also seen Hopelessness, a spirit, following her shorter friend. When she had first met Hope, the spirit had been a mere grey fog and at times wasn't even present at times, but as time moved on, the spirit showed up more often and became more and more humanoid. The spirit looked like the person it followed with out any hope. Exactly like how Hope looked that day.

The blonde Californian had considered walking with her friend for that exact reason. Instead, she ignored her gut feeling and walked into her empty house. She knew her parents weren't going to be home for another couple hours so she quickly made dinner for herself and went to bed early, all the while with a gut feeling that something bad was happening.

The next day Hope was absent from school. Kathrine seemed almost lost with out her and regretted not checking up on her when she had the chance the previous day. Meanwhile she was also a little bit excited as she had received information on a trip to the Grand Canyon scheduled the next day. She couldn't wait to tell Hope. Kathrine almost ran out of the school towards Hope's home, completely forgetting out the garden. Once again, the beach blonde girl from California ignored her bad feeling and kept running to check on Hope. When she got to the house at the end of the street opposite of hers, she stopped dead in her tracks. A wreath of black roses strung together with silver wire adorned the front door. Kathrine might have thought it as some sort of sick, disturbing holiday decoration if she didn't know the true meaning of it. They were mourning a death. With that bad gut feeling rising, she knocked on the door. It sounded almost hollow. A couple minutes later, Hope's father, a bright man named Jamie with the same chocolatey hair and eyes Hope had, opened the door.

"Kathrine? What are you doing here?" He asked, sounding surprised even though Kathrine came every other day. What struck her as odd however was his red eyes. Hope's father wasn't the type to cry over something. Even a death.

"I just came over to ask how Hope is doing. She hadn't come to school so I was wondering if she had gotten sick or something?" Kathrine asked. Jamie was silent for a moment, but then suddenly started crying again. He cried so hard that Hope's mother, Sarah, had to move her husband out of the way and usher her inside. That's when it got weirder. All of the decorative flowers that had been scattered around the house had been removed and replaced with a small burning candle.

"I must apologize," Mrs. Sarah began, a sob on the edge of her voice as well, "we had thought you had already heard. Unless she never told you her plans at all."

At this point, Kathrine was extremely confused. "What are you talking about? What plans?"

Instead of answering her question, Mr. Jamie handed over a crumbled up note with tear stains covering it. Kathrine read it silently. And then re-read it. And then read it again, just to make sure she had read it right. Hope wrote a detailed note about her life and what was going on in it and what she planned to do about it. Kathrine dropped the note and the world spun around her. H-How could her best friend do that to her? To her amazing and loving family? Hope was the only person Kathrine knew that could name a flower and the only ways to take care of it. She was the only one who could tolerate animals and the wildlife. Kathrine had only joined the stupid Garden Club to be with Hope every day. Now what was she going to do?

The lonely girl bid the parents goodbye and left out into the cold night. She refused their offers to stay with them and dinner and everything else. All she wanted was solitude now. The cold wind seemed colder now and the snow didn't seem as pretty as the sun sunk below the horizon. Kathrine had always enjoyed going outside to paint the sun rises or sun sets, but now. . . She just felt like doing nothing. She didn't even feel like going to school. Like Hope, she felt like giving up on life. Though no matter how she felt, Hope wouldn't want that for Kathrine. Life would go on, and so would she. Even when Hope was gone. Even still, Kathrine felt a burning emptiness in her heart that burned her through the next couple of days.

The next day seemed like a joke. Everybody seemed too happy. All except for the few who noticed her bad mood and decided to copy her like the stupid freshmen they were. There was a harsh winter wind blowing in from the north and the clouds covered all of the sky, matching Kathrine's mood perfectly. She had been so excited to go the day before, now all she wanted to was go home and cry. Not even the somewhat beautiful view of the canyon could make her happy. Instead, she just tuned out the teacher's lecture with some of her music and leaned on the railing. She looked around, only to find one of her friends leaning precariously over the edge of the railing. Right over the edge was a complete drop to the bottom.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" She cried and ran over to her friend. At that most unfortunate of times, a gust of wind blew through, catching the girl off balance on the rail. Kathrine managed to barely get to her friend before she fell over the edge, but at a cost. Her friend had been caught off guard by Kathrine's touch and punched her hard in her chin. Kathrine's head flew backwards and she dropped her friend as she herself was thrown precariously over the edge herself. This time, nobody was there to catch her. It felt like somebody had pushed the fast forward button and then suddenly the back button on the remote, allowing her life to go as slow as possible. She heard the screams of the students as she fell, but there was nothing they could possibly do now. Oddly enough, her mind was blank save for a couple of random questions roaming around her head.

Would Hope be mad at her for dying as early as she had? Will her parents even notice; even care? What was going to happen to her next? Kathrine counted down the seconds until impact on the cold, hard Canyon floor. She had to be honest with herself. Free falling was fun, and if she had to die by any means, she was happy that this was how it was happening. Everything seemed slower and more alive as she flew past the colored rocks of the Grand Canyon. She almost wanted to reach out and touch a few of them to make sure it was real. Before she could even try to reach a hand out, she felt the bone shattering crush on the canyon floor. Everything went black almost immediately, but before her last breath left her, she saw a faint light growing closer. Then everything, finally, went dark.

Elsewhere, a pair of previously chocolate brown eyes opened for the very first time.

**If you are confused about the setting and time period, let me explain. This takes place many years after the original guardians defeat Pitch and everything returns to normal. Jamie grows up and has a family as you can tell earlier. This all takes place in Arizona if you couldn't tell by the Grand Canyon part. If this chapter seemed uneven and choppy and stuff, I apologize. I am NOT the greatest author of all time and thus you cannot blame me for any grammar or spelling mistakes this may contain. I try my best though and that is all that matters.**

***A/N If you do not know what a hellebore is, look it up. Trust me, that's what I had to do ^^;**


	2. Chapter 2

**I'll start by being honest here and say that I didn't write this amazing chapter, no matter how badly I want to claim it. This was actually written by my good friend and co-writer movielover01 who is just an amazing author and you should check out some of her stuff~! Anyways, I shall leave you to read now!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own ROTG no matter how badly I want to. I do own Hope/Mother Nature and Movielover01 owns Kathryn  
**

The first thing the girl knew was it was dark. She could feel it, all around her, and it was cold. It felt as if the cold was imbedded into her bones sending wave after wave of chill through her. She was scared and she felt an overwhelming feeling of loneliness. Then something warm blanketed around her and as her eyes opened for the first time she drank in the sight of the full moon. It was so bright! All the fear and darkness seemed to run and hide from it and for the first time she felt at peace. Her first breaths were slow and deep her eyes taking in all her surroundings.

Trees rose high into the gloomy clouds their branches painted white with soft white patches of snow. The girl gazed between her feet and there sat a beautiful white flower. She reached out a gentle hand and caressed the sot white petal between the soft tips of her fingers. The girl held up a hand to her eye and examined the hand before her: milk white skin, skin so soft it seemed the hand had never known work. The girl peered down at herself a baggy green hoodie and light blue jeans, green and blue sneakers hiding beneath the jeans ankles.

Suddenly a soft and deep voice filled her ears.

"You are Mother Nature."

Just as sudden as the voice appeared, it disappeared leaving her standing alone in the woods. She knew it had been the moon and its light seemed to shine down on her giving her silent companionship. Mother Nature treasured it as if she had never been in the comfort of a friend's company before now. She gazed around for a bit longer content to stay where she was until she spotted something hanging off a nearby tree. Mother Nature stepped lightly over to a branch barely just hanging onto a tree. A simple branch gnarled and dying, ugly to another but Mother Nature smiled at the old branch and took hold of the dying wood.

The branch snapped from the tree and lay in her hand. Mother Nature looked at the tree with sorrow and gave a soft sorry patting the trunk of the tree and took the staff back to the small white flower. Despite the chilling snow Mother Nature kneeled at the flowers side and gently grazed her fingers over the wood of the branch. The branch came to life at her touch and re-healed, the wood turning green and healthy again. Mother Nature grinned and stood joyfully a spring in her step and the staff brushed against the white flower. Mother Nature pulled the staff back only to have the flower's roots break through the ground and wrap around the branches base.

She watched in wonder as the flower grew and grew around the staff its green and blooming vines winding tightly around the wood, carving markings and lines into the wood. When it stopped a beautiful staff rested into her hand. The wood shone bright, the vines green and lush with leaves and flower buds in full bloom winding their way to the top, at the staff's top sat the flower the crisp bright white of its petals glowing bright. Mother Nature stood tall her shoulders back and a smile of pride on her face. This was hers, she could feel it.

She set the staff into the snow until it met cold soil and the second it did the snow melted away leaving cold grass that bloomed into a bright green and bore flowers all white. Mother Nature grinned once again and out of nowhere took off running through the trees. She didn't look back as she ran, allowing the staff to touch the snow every once in a while leaving a patch of spring grass. Freedom and joy filled her entire being and somehow even though she had only been there for a few minutes she had never felt so carefree and happy.

As she approached the edge of the forest her leaps turned into skips, then her skips turned into steps, and then she stopped altogether. A city sat in front of her the houses and streets covered in sparkling snow and ice. This place put her on edge but the nagging feeling in her head kept her glued to the spot. Very slowly Mother Nature ventured from the forest and out onto the sidewalk. She held her staff close to her refusing to let it touch the concrete here and continued walking. After walking aimlessly she found herself at the porch of a house with a black wreath. Mother Nature frowned upon it thinking it rather dismal and saddening and thought it would look much livelier as a green or maybe a red.

To be polite Mother Nature knocked on the door. When no one answered she turned to leave but that feeling was eating at the back of her mind and she turned back to the house and sneaking around the side she climbed awkwardly over the gate. Creeping as quietly as she could, she stepped into the house. It was very empty. Nature didn't know what to expect when she entered but she expected more. The house was empty and looked abandoned except for one table. She walked over to it and scanned her eyes over the various faces in the photographs.

A man with bright hazel brown eyes and messy brown hair a woman with him both smiling, a little girl joined these pictures' eyes and hair like her fathers. She traced the child's face then tore her eyes away to look at others. Various pictures of this girl sat on this table, some of them taken when she was young some when she was older. Candles sat on the front two corners of the table flowers laid out surround the pictures. The girl as she became older in the pictures looked so sad… That same feeling was beginning to build and it wasn't until her eyes zoned in on one particular picture she figured what it was.

It was the same girl with the brown hair and eyes except a girl with blonde hair, eyes with the brightest blue Mother Nature had ever seen scattered with gold, and a bright confident smile stared back at her. The girl from the other pictures smiled happily at the camera as she held up a small bird and leaned onto the blonde haired girl. Something fired in her head and all of her memories came rushing back. It nearly knocked Hope off her feet.

Hope. Her name was Hope, and the girl in the photo was her best friend Kathryn. Kathryn. She needed to find Kathryn, tell her how sorry she was. Grabbing the staff she ran out of her house faster than was humanly possible and ran for the school. Once she reached the school she ran down the halls for the green house. Kathryn would be there, she always visited places that held memories when she was sad. But to her dismay it was empty. She let out a sigh of frustration and sat in her favorite chair as she stopped to think.

"It's such a shame. They were such nice girls."

Hope…well Mother Nature now perked up at the sound of voices and froze as the door to the green house opened and the Garden club supervisor and the principle walked inside.

"I just can't understand why such a sweet girl like Hope would do such a thing to herself."

"Hope was a very shy girl to begin with. She would never tell me but I found out through student gossip she was getting picked on. I think Kathryn was her only friend."

"Poor, Kathryn. The girl she saved is in the hospital suffering from an anxiety attack, you know."

"I'm sure watching someone fall into the Grand Canyon isn't something you can just brush off."

Mother Nature's heart stopped and she stared at her Garden Club leader. Did she say…?

"It's such a tragedy. Hope commits suicide and Kathryn dies a day later saving a friend. Just a shame I tell ya. There were such nice girls…"

The voice faded away as the two left the green house. Mother Nature slumped in her chair and her heart beat madly in her chest. It couldn't…it couldn't be true. Kathryn can't be… Her only friend was dead. Her loyal and brave friend who could make it through anything not only had to suffer through hope's rash decision but she fell to her death saving her other friend. Tears burned at her eyes and she couldn't take it. She ran from the green house and ran towards Kathryn's house. It must be a lie; it had to be a lie.

Panting and panicked, Hope peered into Kathryn's house. Her parents were inside but it wasn't like in her house where a small shrine had been made with pictures. Everything was exactly as it always was. Except for one thing; boxes were piled up near the door and her parents were arguing. Hope went to the side of the house and taking the fire escape on the side of the house climbed up to Kathryn's room. When all she found was an empty room her heart ached and her eyes watered. It really was true… Hope ran from the house and ran down the street crying.

When she came to the graveyard her heart ached even more. She walked inside and searched up and down the gravestones. At the corner of the graveyard under a tree a gravestone sat showered with tons of flowers and baskets and notes. The messages engraved on the tombstone caused a pain so strong in her heart her heart felt as if it was about to break. Her sinuses burned and her eyes were beyond watering. The gravestones read: Here Lies Kathryn Lynbrook and Hope Benet, beloved daughters and treasured friends. Rest in Peace.

Tears rolled freely down her cheeks as she stared at the cold slab of stone. The flowers gathered around the grave were beautiful. Some had notes attached to them some for her some for Kathryn. Some had small photos of her and Kathryn on the flowers. Hope sank to her knees and cried. She had been a fool for doing what she did now she would never see her friend again. Hope sat at her and her friend's grave site and wondered if she was a ghost. Probably, maybe this is what happened to suicide victims and Kathryn was up somewhere else. Wiping the tears from her cheeks hope stared at all the beautiful flowers the town had given them. In one was a small mirror for whatever reason and when Hope caught a glimpse of the girl sitting on the other side she jumped.

It was her reflection but she looked different. Her hair was a light blonde like Kathryn's was and her eyes were a vibrant green. It was too much. Hope walked from the gravesite her staff still held tightly in her hands, tears still falling from her eyes, feeling more lost and hopeless than she had before her death. She looked different, and no doubt the growing flower and spring thing she could do now as well. This was a reward! What about Kathryn? She died saving a friend while she died just to get out of her life of misery.

Hope walked for a while not in any certain direction she'd would just follow a path and if the path became a crossroad she would choose one and continue walking. She had never felt so alone, now she didn't even have Kathryn for comfort. In the midst of her heavy thoughts something caught her eye. She turned her head and watched in wonder as a stream of golden sand flew past her and into a house. Then another followed and another and soon the whole street was filled with golden sand streams. They were beautiful Hope reached out to touch them and the sand was as smooth and soft as silk. Hope looked around befuddled as to what was making these beautiful streams of sand and as her eyes gazed up into the sky following the direction of the streams she got her answer.

A man standing on a cloud of gold was directing the sand to go in different directions. With every wave of his hand he bounced up and down like a helium filled balloon. Hope smiled for the first time in hours as she got a good look of the man. He was very short and stout with a round chubby face and spiked golden hair. An adorable smile lit his face and Hope couldn't help but giggle. The man seemed to notice and he floated around to stare down at her. Hope suddenly felt very small and it suddenly seemed like she had stumbled into a private affair. But the little man in gold merely waved and smiled at her.

Hope smiled and waved back and the man slowly floated down to her level. It shocked her when the man actually floated in front of her and as she saw him even closer she noticed that his clothes also looked to be made of sand. Hope remembered her father's stories and she realized that this must be the Sandman, the guy who brought all the dreams to children.

"Hi," was the only response she could think of.

The man smiled and waved back. A question mark appeared over his head in his golden sand then fell away leaving the man waiting for an answer. Hope was rather lost and she didn't want to offend him so she answered the first thing that came to her mind.

"I'm Ho-Mother Nature. I guess."

Sandy smiled and held out a hand. She took it and almost giggled at the fact her hands were twice the size of his. They shook hands and Sandy gazing thoughtfully at her then created a picture of a house then her then a circle with a dash through it.

"I-I'm sorry, I don't understand."

Sandy merely sighed as if he had gone through this many time before and then conjured up a picture of Hope and then of a man scolding her pointing a finger. It took Hope a minute or two to realize what Sandman was asking.

"Why am I out so late?"

Sandman nodded and waited for a reply patiently.

"I-I don't have anywhere to go."

Hearing this new sandman became lost in thought. Then a brilliant idea came to him and he tugged at her arm sleeve and hovered in the opposite direction.

"What? Where do you want me to go?"

Sandy conjured a picture of a motel sign with Vacancy on it and smiled.

"You have someplace for me to stay?"

Sandy nodded and motioned her to follow him.

"Sandman, I can't fly."

Sandman gave her a puzzled look before holding out one of his tiny hands for hers. Hope tentatively took hold of it and let out a shriek when the sand picked her up and the two went flying through the air.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey I'm already doing better than I normally am with updating! :D I know this one took a bit longer to update than the last chapter, but hey, when you have a boyfriend, school in session for about 6 more days, and a deviantArt account you have to update as well, things can get pretty busy. Add babysitting siblings, taking care of a new German Shepard puppy, and studying for finals, you have a recipe for not being able to update. One last thing: I did write this chapter. The next chapter update will come whenever I get the next chapter from movielover01 since we're doing the whole back and forth thing. As always, I hope you enjoy the story and remember to always eat your fruits and veggies. Wait. Wat?**

**Disclaimer: I still don't see a million bucks heading my way so that must mean I still don't own ROTG ;-;**

It was another busy day as North prepared the remaining toys for the upcoming holiday. Things were always busy as Christmas drew nearer, and North knew that, yet he was anxious. As he made his rounds checking up on the toy making, he made sure his last stop was the globe in the middle of the factory. The globe held all of the flickering lights in the world of the children who believed in him and the other guardians. The last time the lights had almost all but vanished was when Pitch attacked and when Jack joined the ranks as a guardian he helped the others defeat Pitch and bring belief back to the world's children. North tried to blame the anxious feeling on how busy he was, but he couldn't shake that bad feeling in the back of his mind and his belly.

North finally reached the globe. At that point, he was at a loss of what to do next. He thought the answer would come to him when he stood in front of the globe. Instead, he just stood there going crazy for why he felt the way he did. All the while, he could of sworn the factory was getting warmer. He confirmed it as he had to roll up his sleeves that only rolled up when he worked on toys. He looked around for a Yettie who wasn't working as hard to call over. He finally spotted one a minute later who was scolding the elves for playing in an electrical outlet again, or so he thought by the way the elves were smoking at the tips of their heads and their bodies were charred.

"Phil!" North cried, getting the attention of his worker. Phil sauntered over to where his boss was and waited for a command to get back to work as he had been on break for the past half hour.

"Yes sir?" He said in his rough voice.

"Has somebody been messing with the thermostat or am I going crazy?" His boss questioned him. Phil took a moment before answering.

"I think it's getting warmer in here as well. I will go check the temperature." Phil said and with that he was off to check the thermostat. North turned back to the globe,his arms folded. At this point there was a thin sheen of sweat visible on his forehead. Suddenly the factory went silent. There was no warning that everything would break down, it just became quiet. Not a single machine was running in the entire toy factory. North looked around in surprise, but a glow from the globe in the center caught his attention. It wasn't necessarily a glow, but it was more like the shimmer that is caused by excessive heat in the summer. The silence was becoming almost deafening, so it was almost like music to his ears when he heard laughter. He looked around for the source before that someone called out to him.

"Oi! North! Up here!" They called. North looked up to find a girl sitting at the top of the globe. Before he could question how she got up there she jumped down so that she was eye level with the guardian of wonder. She started to speak again with a smirk on her face. "Before you ask, I am Heat. That may sound odd to you, but I am the personification of what the mortals would call Global Warming."

North said nothing for a moment, but looked over the girl standing in front of him. She wore a lot of red and black. Her thick-lashed eyes were a dark red and the hair framing her face matched the color of her eyes. She wore a long black jacket covering what seemed to be barely considered a shirt and very short shorts. Her black boots went almost up to her knees and she wore short, fingerless red gloves. The way she spoke suggested she had an accent, but North couldn't pick it out. He finally found the words to say to her.

"Why are you in my factory?" He asked, a snarl on his face. The girl laughed.

"Only for the reason that Pitch told me about you and the other silly little guardians. See, I'm slowly gaining power from the way the humans are treating this earth, and soon I'll be even more powerful than Pitch was. You thought he was hard to fight? Imagine him, only one hundred times worse," she said and touched the globe. Where she touched, a line of smoke appeared and a raised line showed up.

"Why do you tell me this? It just gives me warning so I can get more powerful." North replied. She smirked at him again, her red eyes turning fiery.

"I take my power from the entire Earth while you and your guardians take it from pathetic little children. Now if you excuse me, I have power to gain. I'm sure I'll see you very soon indeed." She said. Before North could reply, she was gone in a puff of smoke. Just like that, the factory returned to normal and the temperature returned to it's normal below freezing temperature. North ran a hand over his face and sat down. He had to call the guardians, and he was about to when Bunny came jumping out of a hole in the ground.

"We've got a big problem," he said in his thick Australian accent. North just looked at him as if he had just said the most obvious thing. At that time, and almost just as quickly as Bunny, both the Tooth Fairy and Jack Frost came flying in as well.

"We've got big-" they started before North cut them off.

"Problems, I know. I got an interesting visit by someone who goes by the name Heat." North said and got up. He looked up to the hole in the roof where the Man in the Moon was present. He appeared to be shining down onto the guardians. Almost the same way he had the night Jack became a guardian.

"Us too," the other three replied simultaneously.

"What do you think this could mean?" Tooth asked, expecting an answer. The answer came from the least likely person in the least likely way. Slowly, the floor opened up to reveal a large crystal that revealed a person that no guardian had heard about. The girl the crystal was depicting had long hair that reached mid-back and a sweatshirt and jeans almost similar to Jack's, except she had jeans and shoes. Clutched tightly in her hands was a staff made of wood with flowers and vines running up it.

"Who-?" Bunny asked, but was silenced when a voice went through all of their heads.

"Mother Nature. . ." Manny rang out, answering all of their questions. Another question running through their head was-

"Hey, where's Sandman?" Jack asked.

Hope felt as if they had been flying for days. This was the time when she really hated her long hair. It was flying in her face and at times into her mouth. Not once had she let go of her staff out of fear of loosing it forever. Nor did she even once try to let go of Sandy's hand. She wasn't about to risk death again. For the entirety of the flight, she considered saying something to him, maybe about herself, or her family, or even ask about him. She was cautious, however, about the fact that a bug might fly into her mouth or he may not hear him. At this point, though, she was confused and tired of flying so she opened her mouth to speak.

"How much farther?" Hope cried, hoping he heard her. It seemed that the Sandman hadn't heard her because he didn't spare her a glance. Hope sighed and opened her mouth to try again.

"HOW MUCH FARTHER?" She screamed louder, amazed at how she didn't throw out her voice. This time, Sandy turned around to look at her. He just grinned his adorable grin and turned back around, not even answering her question. Not that he could do much else other than pictures that would quickly disappear in the wind. Hope was about to close her eyes before she noticed something in the distance. Sandy seemed to have as well and he turned back to her and pointed ahead.

"IS THAT IT?" She cried again. Sandy nodded and sped up. At this point, Hope just wanted to get on solid ground. She had never been a fan of traveling by air in the first place, so to her, this seemed like a living nightmare. Although, it hadn't been all that bad. She got to see some interesting landscapes fly by her. Like the Rocky Mountains and then up into Canada. Mother Nature jokingly thought that the Sandman was taking her to the North Pole. After a couple more minutes of flying, The object that had been in the distance was closer up and Hope could see that it was a factory type building. Sandy headed straight for the door, which just so happened to be closed. As they drew nearer, Hope could almost imaging herself being smashed against the door. She closed her eyes and braced herself for impact, but a after a few moments opened her eyes and looked down at herself. She breathed a sigh in relief when she noticed she was still in one piece. Then she took a look around her.

It was amazing. Where ever she was. She wasn't one to dwell on architecture, but even the person who built the Roman Colosseum would be amazed at how the place was set up. And that wasn't even the best part. All around her, big. . . "things" were working, building toys. Maybe Sandy HAD brought her to the North Pole. At that point, Sandy had stopped and let go of her hand, deciding to walk the rest of the way to where his destination was. He turned to her and formed an arrow above his head and beckoned her to follow him. Mother Nature did, clutching her staff with both hands, suddenly scared to where he was taking her. After walking for a bit and going through an elevator, she could hear voices. They sounded like they were arguing. Her first glimpse of the group of people was large ears as they were  
pointed in Sandy and her's direction.

"There he is," it said. Upon closer review, it was a large rabbit, somehow with an Australian accent. The other three people in the group was a large man that resembled Santa Clause, a bird type lady with little things flying around her, and a teenager, just like her, with white hair, a blue sweatshirt, and leggings. They all grew silent as the pair drew near. Mother Nature felt awkward to say the least, but Sandy was the same as ever and even jumped up and down pointing to her to introduce her. She blushed and smiled sheepishly.

"Uh, hi." Mother Nature said very quitely and hid behind her tangled, blonde hair. That seemed to have broken a dam and all four of them started talking at once. After a couple moments of not being able to understand them, the Santa Clause look alike spoke up.

"Be silent! We are scaring her. I do not know why Sandy has brought her here, but he has brought her here none the less," he said in a very obvious Russian accent. The bird lady, which Mother Nature soon realized she was the Tooth Fairy, fluttered over to a large crystal and then looked back at Hope.

"Uh, North, I think there might have been a reason Sandy brought her here," She said. North waved her off.

"Not now- wait, what do you mean?" He asked and turned to the crystal. After a moment of him staring at it, he turned back to Hope. Then back to the crystal, and then back to Hope. His eyes grew large in surprise, but it quickly filled with joy as he went over and squeezed Mother Nature so she could no longer breath. "It is you! Man in Moon predicted you would come!"

"What do you mean by that?" the teen squeaked. All this time she could feel all four of them stare at her and she was beyond uncomfortable.

"It is you, Mother Nature. You are new guardian." He answered her in glee. Finally, the white haired teen in the background moved forward slightly.

"What do you mean she's a new guardian. Why wasn't she chosen before?" He said. North turned to him, his back facing towards Sandy and Hope. He was obviously lecturing him about something that she didn't care about at the time. However, Sandy tugged on her sleeve pointing upwards to get her attention. Mother Nature looked up to see the Moon she had seen when she first woke up shining down onto the crystal, which was now shimmering and casting multiple rainbows across the factory. A light musical sound also filled the room almost like a soft orchestra but over the arguing it could barely be heard.

"Uh, you guys-?" She tried to speak up. Nobody noticed her. She tried again with the same voice as before. Then she became angry. She pounded her staff into the ground and opened her mouth to yell. "HEY!"

All of the guardians, who had somehow gotten involved in the lecture and turned it into another argument, stopped and looked at her with fear and surprise in their eyes. Mother Nature said nothing as she pointed to the crystal in the middle of the room. At that point it had stopped shimmering and sending off rainbows, but the image was a person that looked slightly familiar to Hope. North walked up to it. After a couple moments of silence he gasped and turned back to them.

"Man in Moon has chosen another."

**Thanks for reading! Reviews make writing chapters faster and are always appreciated. Please contribute to the comment section by clicking that button below and commenting your thoughts on the story thus far. Please don't flame though. I'm very sensitive ;u; Just kidding, but don't flame. A) if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all and B) I will find a way to remove your hurtful comment and I will use my magic powers to ban you from ever reading my story again! Okay, I kid again, but I will probably find a way to remove your comment. You may say I sound unwilling to accept mean comments, but I don't like to have to get onto my comments page with my hopes up and then being reminded that somebody thought my story was horrible. So for your sake, please don't do that. Anyways, thanks for reading and remember to comment!**


	4. Chapter 4

**o: Two chapters in one day?! Wow! I've never done that before! I'm amazed at myself! Dude, this is a new record. If I could manage to post chapter five in at least the next two to three days, that would be truly amazing. Oh by the way, I did not write this chapter. Movielover01 did. I'd say it's pretty good! She's a talented writer so you should checker her stuff out too. Anyways, I'll shut up now and let you read. Oh, this is where her OC Harmony is introduced.**

**Disclaimer: I STILL don't own ROTG, but Mother Nature is my OC and Harmony is Movielover01's OC. Have fun reading!**

It was warm. The girl didn't know who or what she was but somehow it didn't matter. She was floating in warm darkness and she was content to stay there. All the heavy burdens she felt she once carried were lifted off her shoulders and it was liberating. Then she felt a pull. Like a string was attached to her middle and something was pulling her away from the darkness back to a light. The light was so bright it was almost blinding and when she was pulled into the light she took her first breath back on earth. The girl shook her head and rubbed her eyes almost as if she had been in a deep sleep instead of dead. She slowly opened her eyes and stared up at the moon. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. It was so bright and almost angelically white. Its light was comforting and she wished she could stare at it forever.

"You are Harmony."

Harmony spun around expecting a man to be behind her but the only other thing with her was the moon. She looked up into the moon's face and realized that it must have been the moon talking to her. Harmony decided that if the moon said she was who she was she wouldn't argue and she would simply go along with it. Harmony did small circles gazing around at the canyon that had become her death bed. It was night of course but by the light of the moon she could see the huge shadow the lip of the canyon wall cast over her. She looked over at the canyon trails and figured the easiest way out would be to go up. It was just getting out that was going to be hard.

Plopping down on the canyon floor Harmony relaxed and pondered how she was going to get out. It was at that moment she finally took a look at herself. She was wearing converse that had been scribbled on with names of people she didn't know and pictures of things she could slightly remember, dark blue denim jeans that fit snugly on her legs, then a hoodie sweatshirt. The sweatshirt amazed her. It was covered with colors all swirling and blending never stopping. She traced a finger through the red dirt of the canyon and was fairly surprised when the dirt turned a bright glowing red. She stared amazed at her fingertips still glowing red until it faded.

Fisting her hand she looked back up at the canyon wall. Harmony imagined that it would be much easier if they wall was covered in rock climbing stones that she recalled from a children's playground she once saw. Harmony leaned onto the wall but backed away when a rock stone actually appeared on the wall. When she leapt away it faded into nothing and was gone. Harmony tentatively placed her hand back onto the wall and gripped the stone when it appeared. She placed her other hand onto the wall and another stone appeared under her hand when she let go it disappeared. Biting her tongue determinedly, Harmony slowly climbed her way up the canyon wall, a brightly shining speck of color against a dark wall of shadow. When she finally reached the top she chuckled victoriously and shook herself of the dirt she had gathered on her climb up.

She looked around at the dismal sight of desert around her and sighed. Maybe it would have been a better choice to walk through the canyon, because it didn't look like the top of the canyon was any more exciting than the bottom of it. Letting out an annoyed grumble she started her tread down what looked like a trail. After a mile or so of walking Harmony was losing patients and she was tired of looking at the same dumb landscape. Not even a roadrunner or coyote had crossed her path and frankly she wanted to be somewhere, anywhere fast. Before she could comprehend it in a flash of rainbow and what felt like the most powerful blow-dryer in the world later she was standing in front of a school nestled in the middle of a city. She did a few confused turns looking around her but after seeing she was in a much more interesting place she merely shrugged and thought, 'alright.'

Looking up at the school Harmony decided that it didn't look that interesting or important so she took a little stroll around town. She walked past the main square looking over all the shops and buildings. None of them really caught her attention so she kept on walking until she reached a neighborhood. Harmony walked past the houses once or twice squinting at a lit window trying to see what the person inside was doing until she stood in front of one house in particular. It was two stories had a nicely kept and evenly cut and green lawn with a few plants all growing around it. Out of all the houses on the street this was the one that called out to her the most.

Harmony, not feeling the least bit nervous about knocking on a stranger's door, made her way to the front door and knocked. When the door swung open and a woman with light blonde hair and green eyes with yellow flecks in them opened the door she at least expected a greeting but the woman merely peered around and even looked at Harmony before muttering about the rotten kids and closing the door. Harmony was puzzled and she wasn't too happy with being flat out ignored. She walked around to the side window and peered inside.

The same woman from before and a man with brown hair and deep blue eyes were arguing fiercely about something and after all the silence at the canyon Harmony was very eager to hear any conversation from anyone. So, she found the backdoor and finding it unlocked, she walked into the house silently shutting the door behind her. Harmony tip toed her way into the hall leading to the kitchen where the two were arguing and she leaned in and listened to the voice.

"What do you mean we can't afford to throw her a funeral? She's our daughter," the woman screamed hysterically.

"Was. Kathryn was our daughter. We cannot afford to pay for the funeral you want. We already paid over 500 on her grave."

"She shared that grave with her friend."

"I say that the Bennett's should have paid for it. She was more their daughter than ours."

"How dare you say a thing like that? This is because she was a girl isn't it. You always wanted a son, well, I'm sorry but you got a daughter and she was a good daughter! She might have well been your son considering she was on the baseball team and the star batter!"

"I never wanted children! I told you to get you're tubes tied but no you told me you would take the pill instead. Look at the mess that became of it."

"When was the last time you told your daughter you loved her? Did you ever complement or even look at one of her paintings or listen to her play or sing? Did you?!"

The woman was in tears and the man was simply irritated and he yelled back at his wife about how they were useless hobbies that could have never been used in life. Harmony was sinking in the corner and she suddenly felt very uncomfortable in the house. The feeling of familiarity of this argument was poking at the back of her mind and Harmony really didn't want to find out why they seemed familiar. Harmony ran towards the back door but tripped over the pile of boxes that were near it. The two adults came running over and Harmony prepared herself for the worst but the adults simply looked around confused before stepping forward to pick up the boxes continuing their argument. Harmony stood to apologize but when the man went through her she stopped throat ran dry and her breath caught in her throat. She grabbed at her chest and feeling she was still solid she stared flabbergasted at the arguing couple that was shoving the boxes to the side.

"I'm not keeping that junk in my house so you'd better start a garage sale to sell all of it. Make a buck or two off of the stuff."  
The woman immediately disagreed but Harmony perked at the sound. Maybe there was something exotic or cool stuffed in the boxes. Harmony crawled to the nearest box still a little to shaky to stand on her feet comfortably and opened it. She grinned at the bottles of half used paint and blank canvases scattered among the various paintings. She couldn't think of what she'd do with them though so she shoved the box to the side and went on to the next one. She grinned even wider at the various small instruments in the next box. She tsked at the obvious laziness of whoever had packed them in because they all looked as though someone had just tossed them in there. A flute, violin, pair of bongo drums, piccolo, clarinet, trumpet, soprano sax, and a triangle were all lying inside the box. Harmony had to have them the couple was just going to sell them anyway and it was obvious that both of them didn't know squat about playing them.

Harmony grabbed the instruments and stuffed them into her pocket. It surprised her when she fit all of them in her pocket and a loud plop sounded as if she'd dropped them down a hole and when she reached inside her pocket she felt a huge empty space. She peered into her pocket and saw what looked like a giant safe in a big bank. Harmony smiled and patted her pocket before taking one glance behind her at the couple giving them a sad frown and a shake of her head before she left, lazily closing the door behind her.  
Back at the workshop the Guardians were all staring at the crystal amazed that not only one but two Guardians had been chosen in one night.

"Do you know who that is," Bunny asked with a twitch of his ear.  
Everyone shook their heads and shrugged clueless except for Mother Nature. She was staring completely entranced by the image in the crystal. She knew this person she was sure of it. But the name of the girl depicted in the crystal escaped her. She shook her head and glanced up at the image again and it was then that the smile of the person caught her eye. She knew that smile. She'd seen it countless other times. A smile that said I'm happy with myself and I'm going to do whatever I feel like doing whether you like it or not. Only Kathryn could smile like that. Her eyes began to water and she broke down in a series of small sobs. Tooth Fairy rushed over to her side and grabbed her shoulder.

"Aw, sweetie what's wrong?"

"I know her. She was my best friend but she's dead."

"Dead," Jack asked twirling his cane, "If your friends in the crystal she's not dead. She's probably not the same friend you knew either."

"Huh," Mother Nature asked wiping her eyes clean of tears.

"All guardians were human once. All of us. But we all died to become guardians. Man in moon chose all of us to protect the children of the world. It seems that you and your friend there are new guardians."

"Well, we can't keep clowning around and wastin' time. We need to find her friend and pronto!"

"Calm down cotton tail," Jack said waving off the Easter bunny's impatiens, "Where did your friend…die?"

"At the grand canyon. She fell in," Mother Nature replied sadly. Sandy patted her hand and gave her a comforting smile which Mother Nature smiled at.

"Off course it'd be someplace warm," Jack grumbled.

"All right, I think it's time to use sleigh. Everyone to the sleigh!"Sandy pulled on her hand and all of the Guardians went running for North's sleigh.

**I say that was pretty good. Remember, reviews help us write faster, so press that button down there and help me write the next chapter! Just kidding, but no really, comments do help us write faster and are very much appreciated. Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Huzzah! I have gotten chapter 5 out in a timely manner. It wasn't finished quite as early as I had planned, but that was because I kept getting interrupted and then I ended up really busy and yada yada yada. . . Once I actually sat down to it and put my mind to writing it though, I actually got done pretty quickly and managed to finish it in a couple hours. The next chapter should be up in a couple days depending on the coauthor, so be on the look out for when that comes out. I honestly enjoyed this chapter, so I hope that you do as well c:**

**Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own it. . .**

The six of them ran to the sleigh quickly so they could find the new guardian. Just as they were about to reach the sleigh dock, however, Tooth took Hope's hand and stopped. The rest of the other guardians reached the door, and realizing that two of their members were missing from the group, stopped and turned around.

"What are you doing? We need to leave now!" North said, half of his large, red jacket still hanging off his body and his hat at an angle. Tooth stayed firm and stared at him.

"Not until the poor girl gets changed. I don't think it's appropriate for a guardian to be running around in nothing but an over sized hoodie, jeans, and converse. Plus her hair is a mess." Tooth said blatantly. At that, Jack blushed and kicked the ground for what he was wearing was actually designed by Tooth herself. Bunny face palmed and Sandy created an image of a clock over his head and pointed at it. North just rolled his eyes.

"You are just happy there is another girl on the team. Go, but be fast." He said and waved them off. Hope didn't even know what was going on as Tooth dragged her off to who-knew-where, but she could have sworn she heard North mumble something along about how he hated girls and their love of fashion. It was a couple more minutes of being dragged across the floor when the pair finally reached what seemed like an office. Hope was thrown into the room and almost immediately her hoodie and shirt underneath was off and there were bird things flying around with needles and tape measures.

"I don't understand what's going on? Why are you doing this for me?" Hope asked and winced as she was poked by a needle. Tooth flew around her contemplating for a moment.

"Well, you're the only female company I've had in centuries. The only girls I've ever seen are the little girls who are asleep and the women on the street who can no longer remember me. There was one little girl though; one little girl who continued to remember even as she grew up. And I remember her father had always remembered too." Tooth said and her expression changed from one of thoughtfulness to one of dreams.

"I'm that little girl, you know," Hope mentions. At this point, she stood shivering in the cold temperature with nothing but her underwear on. Tooth stopped and smiled at her.

"I thought so. Manny wouldn't choose any random kid," She said. She turned back around for a moment and then held something up. She then turned back to Hope with a sundress held up in her hands. It was a light, crystallized blue with small snowflake designs seemingly dancing around the dress. It was so mesmerizing that Hope hadn't realized that she was being offered the dress. Tooth smiled as the teen slipped the dress on and twirled around in amazement at it.

"I-I love it," Hope barely whispered.

"Baby Teeth are good for more than just collecting teeth. Now sit so I can brush your hair," Tooth said and pointed to a chair. Hope did and a baby tooth brought a brush over. While the Tooth Fairy started on her tangled hair, more baby teeth brought over a pair of golden sandals that tied up her legs. She allowed them to put them on her, tying them as needed. Only a couple minutes seemed to pass before Tooth started speaking again.

"This dress is pretty magical, you know. For each season, it'll change to match it. There, I think your hair is tangle-free now," She said and placed a flower wreath in her hair. Hope stood up. She felt. . .better than she had back when she was human. She was so happy. She almost felt like she didn't deserve this happiness. A dark expression flashed across her face, but before Tooth could ask about it, it was gone. Hope grabbed her staff and did another twirl. She could almost hear birds and wind chimes singing in her ear. Mother Nature stopped and looked at Tooth.

"We should probably go." She said sheepishly.

"Yeah," Tooth agreed and the pair ran out of the room to meet up with the rest of the guardians. After a minute of running and tripping on her new shoes, the pair of them finally caught up to the rest of the guardians. As she panted, Hope looked at each of the other guardians. North and Bunny just sighed, Sandy grinned at her and gave her thumbs up, and Jack was looking away sheepishly. Hope noticed the slight blush on his face as he was looking away and felt her own blush creep to her face. As soon as she caught her breath, North looked at all of them and they all nodded to him to carry on. He pushed open the doors and Hope lost her breath once again.

The area was rather large and was located in the outside where everything was crystallized and icy. What caught her attention, however, was the large sleigh in the middle of the area. It was definitely not the sleigh she had heard about in all of the stories that had been told to her when she was younger. What would happen should she fall out?

"Are you sure?" She asked North as he helped her up into it. He just grinned and chuckled lightly. Hope wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, but she stiffened when she felt someone sit next to her. She didn't relax when she saw it was Jack. In fact, she could feel the blush rising to her face again. She hoped everybody else would would blame it on the coolness of the sleigh deck. Finally everybody was in the sleigh and settled down. Even Bunny who sat as straight and tense as her.

"Everybody ready?" North asked, looking back at the other guardians. At this point his hat was on straight and his jacket all buttoned up. With one more nervous gulp from Mother Nature, North spurred the reindeer into action and the sleigh was jolted into movement.

"Gah!" Hope cried and grabbed onto the nearest thing possible

that wasn't her staff. That nearest thing happened to be Jack, who, on reflex, put his arm around her to comfort the newest guardian. Once they both realized who they grabbed, however, they both let go. Hope's blush turned not only her cheeks red, but the tips of her ears as well. Hope tried to look down below the sleigh, but it didn't work out as well as she had planned. Her face turned green as she turned to look straight in front of her instead. After a couple minutes North turned around.

"What is wrong, Mother Nature? You do not like sleigh?" He asked, bewildered that anybody could dislike the sleigh. Even Bunny enjoyed it a little bit.

"The sooner we can find Kathryn, the better," she replied straight faced and stiffly. North just rolled his eyes and started navigating the sleigh again. Hope began to notice the slight differences of weather every moment she rode on the sleigh. While it had been a sunny yet cold day up at North's factory, it became darker and warmer as they moved farther south. By the time they reached Colorado, it was 20 above instead of 20 below and the stars twinkled above them. Hope found herself staring at them instead of at the ground searching for her friend. A couple hours before Jack had offered to switch places with her so she didn't feel like she was going to fall over the edge.

"Aren't they beautiful?" Hope whispered. She still said it loud enough that Jack could hear her and look over at her.

"Hm?" He asked. Hope looked back down, a flush on her cheeks from having the wind blasted on her face for hours on end.

"The stars. I've never seen them this close. And whenever I saw them, they weren't as many as the ones I'm seeing now because of the city lights. They're beautiful." Hope said. She sighed as they came to a wall of clouds forming. Unfortunately they were the same direction as they were going. Jack seemed to like this however.

"Sure the stars are beautiful, but have you ever seen it snow at night?" he asked and stood up. Before she could answer with an obvious yes, he jumped the side and was lost out of her sight. She stood up as well, ignoring the wind pushing against her body only to see Jack manipulating the wind to allow him to fly. Against her better judgement, she allowed herself to grin when she saw Jack making tiny ice crystals fall from the sky. She had to admit, they looked like tiny stars falling from the sky. . ._

Harmony didn't know how long she walked. The only clue that it was still around midnight was the moon still hovered in the sky like a parent watching a child. Surprisingly enough she hadn't grown tired in the entirety of her walk. She had long since left the city for who knew where. She didn't know how to activate the rainbow thing that had transported her to the school before, but even if she did she didn't know where she would go with it. After a couple more minutes, clouds covered the sky and the moon that had been keeping her company. Now she had nobody or anything to keep her from going crazy.

"NOW WHAT?" She cried to nobody in particular. She didn't even know where she was. She was in a part of Arizona that hadn't gotten snow obviously. Or had she crossed another state border. At that point, she wasn't sure how long she was walking or what direction she was going in. Honestly, she didn't care, but she hoped something happened soon.

Just as she wished something would happen, she felt a light dot of wetness on her nose. Looking up she noticed little white flakes coming from the sky. In a wave of happiness she grinned and did a 360 spin where she stood. In the part of Arizona she lived, it wasn't rare to see snow, but she knew that a lot of places didn't see the white flakes very often. She was about to close her eyes and bask in the coolness, but something-or someone caught her attention. The person flew around sporadically across the sky, almost as if they were being controlled by another force. The person held a staff in their hands. Harmony scanned the sky to see if he was alone. She almost gave up, but again in the corner of her eye she saw a large sleigh being pulled by reindeer.

Remembering all of the stories Hope had told her she knew it was Santa. She hadn't realized that a burst of colors had appeared at her excitement. She started jumping up and down and waving her arms to see if he would notice her and take her with him. Almost like a weird type of hitchhiking.

Mother Nature was tired of looking, and while she wasn't all that cold with out a jacket on, she was beginning to get the urge to go back inside somewhere to sit by a fire to warm up. She blamed it on left-over human instincts. She was about to turn to talk to Tooth or maybe Sandy, but something caught her attention. She looked tentatively over the side of the moving sleigh to find bright bursts of colors coming from what seemed to be a human source. The person jumped up and down wildly and waved their arms, as if to get North's attention. She wondered if Jack had noticed them yet. Turning away from the side she called out loudly to North.

"I THINK WE NEED TO LAND DOWN THERE!" Hope cried out. North turned around to her.

"WHY?" He asked just as loudly.

"THERE'S A PERSON DOWN THERE. I THINK THEY'RE TRYING TO GET OUR ATTENTION!" Hope responded. North grunted and started directing the reindeer down to the ground. It took a dizzying couple of minutes spinning down to land, but they finally made it, and Hope was able to get out and take a deep breath of ground air. She quickly got up, however, when she saw the rainbow person, who could now be determined to be female, running towards them. When she finally had met up with them, she knelt on her knees and took deep breaths. Hope was stunned. It was her. They had found Kathryn. The same Kathryn that Hope thought had been dead hours ago. Harmony looked to each of the guardians and grinned.

"Santa Clause, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman. You're all here. Just like from the stories. And Jack Frost! And. . ." Harmony had gotten so excited at the others, but when she saw the little blonde one right in front of her, she suddenly became confused and frustrated because she didn't know who it was. As soon as she came up with an idea she looked up and straight at the blonde one with the green eyes.

"Mother-" She began, but was cut off as she was tackled by a hug that knocked the wind out of her. Harmony stood petrified as she was being tightly squeezed and she felt the girl shake against her, as if sobbing. She finally looked up and Harmony could see tear streaks running down her face, making her more confused as to why the guardian could be having this reaction to her. The smaller figure reached up and touched Harmony's face to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

"It's really you. I thought you were dead, but here you are. Right in front of me. All rainbow hued and colorful and beautiful, I can't believe it. I never thought I would see you again," she said in a voice that sounded very familiar to Harmony. She looked over at the girl who had let go of her and stepped back a couple feet. She bore a very strong resemblance to Hope, the girl she once knew, but she was much different. For one thing, she was blonde haired and had green eyes. Another thing was the way she acted was much more confident than her friend had ever been. Lastly, she knew Hope had died and was trying to accept that fact. But the way this girl smiled was too familiar and the way she had reacted was appropriate enough.

"Don't you recognize me?" She squeaked out. Harmony just stared as the girl dropped her shoulders in defeat, her staff that Harmony hadn't realized until just now falling into the snow. The girl pointed to herself. "I'm Hope! The one who killed herself because she thought she wasn't good enough?! The one who ruined your life over some selfish thought!?" The girl began to sob again, but they weren't happy sobs this time. She dropped into the snow. All this time, the other guardians watched in the background silently. It finally clicked in Harmony's mind that this was the girl she had so desperately wanted to see one last time. This was the true Hope.

"I-I can't-" Harmony began, but she broke into sobs as well and ran to the other girl. She collapsed into the snow with her and wrapped her arms around her to console her. Like she used to do when the two were younger and Hope would trip and scratch her knee or one of her fish died. It was some time before the two stopped crying and stood up. They could see through thinning clouds that the moon had gone down a lot. Even once they stood up, though, they stood silently watching and looking at each other, waiting for the other to make the first move or to say something. Tooth decided to be the first one to say something.

"Come on you two, it looks like we have quite a lot to talk about and catch up on."

**So yeah. Not nearly as long as I originally planned it out to be, but still moderately long. I thought it was long and a good quality, but it all depends on what you guys think. I would really appreciate reviews! I kind of get a little discouraged when nobody says anything because then I think nobody likes it. But then I remember "Hey, it doesn't matter what they think" and I keep writing. But no, seriously, I really do appreciate reviews. I'm done saying they make me type faster because they obviously don't, but they do make me happy and could possibly effect the quality of the chapter. Anyways, I'm done with this rant. I hope you liked the chapter!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I have finally gotten around to getting this edited and posted. I really, really, REALLY want to apologize to movielover01 for haven taken so long with this. The worst part of it though is that I'm not exactly sure when I'll get the next chapter after this up. I have another fanfiction I'm working on for FIM fiction (Friendship is Magic fiction) as well so my time will be used for that as well. Oh well. Anyways, I'm sorry for the wait. I think this chapter will definitely make up for it. **

**Disclaimer: *looks around* I still don't have the talent to work on something like ROTG ;-;**

"Y-you mean were going to ride in the sleigh," Harmony asked still a bit choked up on her tears.

"Of course, what do you think Santa drive? Mini-van?"

North laughed heartily and both girls giggled and wiped their tears on their sleeves.

"I don't know Santa; I don't think you would fit in a truck much less a mini-van."

Harmony smiled impishly at North. North just smiled amused at the child's action and hopped into the sleigh. Both of the newly appointed guardians had arms wrapped protectively around the other as they stepped into the sleigh. Neither wanted to let the other out of their sight after they both had come so close from losing the other. The two settled on the very back seat and both slumped into the seat rather tired from the recent events.

"I'd introduce you but you already know everyone," Mother Nature said with a soft chuckle.

"Introduce me anyway," Harmony replied glancing back at Mother Nature a carefree smile on her face.

"I'm glad you're okay," Mother Nature stated giving a happy smile.

"Me too, more than you know."

North without giving any warning started the sleigh and nobody was prepared. Tooth was sent flying in the air and had to fly back to it, Jack was flung out and barely saved himself by grabbing the railing, Bunny was thrown into the back seat making the girl next to him wince at the loud thump on the wood and the groan, even Sandy was knocked over scrambling and holding onto the sleigh. Harmony and Mother Nature were clinging onto each other for dear life from that rough take off. Normally Harmony would have loved this but a warning would have been nice or at least polite considering she felt she was almost flung out of the sleigh.

"North you galumphing oaf! Why didn't you warn us first?"

"Why didn't you buckle up?"

Harmony couldn't hold in the giggle when she saw the look of complete distress on the Easter Bunny's face. That giggle quickly turned into a full out belt of laughter when Bunny scratched his claws against the wood and he clung to it for dear life.

"I-I guess you don't like the sleigh, huh?"

Mother Nature elbowed Harmony even though she was about to laugh herself and Harmony merely lightly shoved her back. When the sleigh's flight evened out Harmony found that it was safe enough to move around in the sleigh a bit and look down at the scenery below.

"Kathryn, be careful, please!"

"Come on; don't tell me you're afraid of the sleigh to?"

"W-well. . . I just don't want you to fall. . ."

The air tensed around the group as they looked between the two tensely. Harmony had the side of the sleigh in a death grip so tight her knuckles were turning white.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay, it's a reasonable worry. I'm just looking over at the houses and stuff. They look like little doll houses. You remember that doll house you used to have, the one with the white paint and the tons of little wooden furniture? The one that Santa gave you for Christmas?"

Mother Nature was surprised at how fast Kathryn's mood had changed considering back at school Kathryn would become hung up for days on something that bothered her. But at the same time she was relieved that the sensitive topic had been dodged for the time being.

"Yeah, I remember. You and I played for hours with that thing when we were little."

"Yeah… Remember how we used to think how cool it would be if we could jump into the house and see it from the point of view of the dolls?"

"Uh-huh."

"I know it sounds really random but the houses just look so tiny from up here. We should travel this way all the time! I mean wow! Just feel that breeze."

"I'll take my tunnels any day," Bunny replied still looking very green in the face from the take-off.

Harmony turned to him and cocked her head, "Well, we can't all conjure up holes in the ground or run at mile speed."

"Kathryn, look! Your shirt!"

All the guardians looked down at the sweatshirt and marveled at the image of the warren that appeared with holes filling it.

"Hey, how do you know what my Warren looks like?"

Slightly threatened by the protective tone of Bunny she held up her hands in defense, "I've never seen it! I just pictured it in my head and it appeared there. I didn't know it was even there!"

Bunny relented but the two looked at each other tensely for a moment or two after.

"Don't worry about him; all he does is work, work, work, work, work! That's all that kangaroo cares about, his googies and his Warren. Not a fun bone left in his body."

Harmony smiled at Jack but Bunny immediately began an argument as he stared intensely at Jack, "You listen here Frost, not everyone can mess around and do nothing like you! Some people have actual work to do!"

"Alright," North shouted turning his head as far as he could without taking his complete attention off the driving, "No more fighting! We have two new members of team! We need to set example for them!"

Bunny and Jack apologized and the company fell into silence again. Harmony after gazing over the ever changing landscape became bored. As they flew Harmony sat back down next to Mother Nature and dug around in her pocket until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out the flute and licked her lips before playing a few experimental notes on it. When she found her lips were warmed up enough she played a melody she had been working on a few weeks before Hope died. All the guardians sat and listened to the soft but beautiful melody and even Jack who never was in the same place long enough to blink sat still and listened. Bunny, despite hating any matter of high pitch noises due to his satellite like ears he found himself taking a strange liking to the music.

Mother Nature recognized the tune as a melody Harmony had hummed a few times during garden club and lightly hummed along. When Harmony finished she placed the flute back in her pocket and sat back looking even more bored.

"That was lovely," Tooth exclaimed dreamily. The baby teeth miniatures of her flew around Harmony and Harmony petted one of them before they flew back to tooth.

"Where'd you learn to play like that," Jack asked sincerely interested.

Harmony shrugged and replied modestly, "I taught myself."

"Where'd you get the flute? It looked like your old flute," Hope asked.

It was an innocent enough question yet the mention of it triggered the memory of her parents and she realized that the house she had visited was her own house. When Harmony's face fell everyone noticed especially Hope.

"What's wrong, Kathryn?"

"I-I went to my parent's house."

Mother Nature frowned deeply and laid a hand on her shoulder, "And?"

"They haven't changed. But it doesn't matter I don't have to listen to it anymore."

Hope hugged her friend and Harmony hugged her in an equally tight embrace.

"I'm sorry, about your parents. At least one set of our parent's mourned."

Hope hugged Kathryn even tighter and the two sat silently hugging each other.

"Hope?"

"Hmm?"

"Could people see you? Like when you were walking down the street? No one saw me."

"There wasn't really anybody out to see me."

Jack leaned over on his staff and looked at the girls, "Only people who believe can see. To everyone else it's like you don't exist."

"Oh," Harmony bluntly murmured and the conversation ceased again.

Sandy, who at this point had been silently observing as he often did, decided that right now they needed some cheering up. Sandy walked up to them and gently tapped them. Both girls looked up at the Sandman smiling warmly.

"Oh, hey Sandy. Kathryn this is Sandman."

Kathryn looked up at the little man and was taken aback. He was adorable. He was short stout and had a crop of gold hair sticking up in all directions from his scalp. His clothes looked like what she saw those old millionaires wearing except made of golden sand and his eyes were the deepest shade of gold she had ever seen.

"Hi, nice to meet you little man."

Sandman smiled and held out his hand and Harmony took it and almost giggled at the fact her hands were ten times bigger than hers making his look like toddler's hands. Sandy held up a finger and he weaved his golden sand in the shape of a flute.

"Wow! Neato!"

Above his head images of instruments then of Harmony appeared above his noggin. Harmony took only a second to reply. "Am I a musician?"

Sandy nodded and Harmony shrugged.

"I wouldn't call myself a musician."

"I would," Mother Nature said.

Harmony gave Mother Nature only a quick glance before replying, "I only played for fun. It was a hobby I did."

"Well, I've never seen anybody so dedicated to a hobby before," Hope said.

"I could say the same thing about you and your garden. I mean, look at you! You're Mother friggin Nature! Oh and by the way I was right."

"About what?"

"That your hair would look very pretty blonde. And look at you I was right. Cool staff by the way, did you make it?"

"Not sure. I just picked it up and it sort of grew by itself. Speaking of which how did you get out of the canyon?"

Harmony slumped on Hope's shoulder and looked rather confused as she answered, "I don't know. I looked up at the canyon walls and I started to think about those rock climbing walls at the park and when I put my hand a rock climbing rock appeared. Every time I put my hand on the wall it did so I climbed my way out and then…I don't even know what happened."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, one second I was standing on the lip of the canyon and the next I'm on the outskirts of town! Just a flash of rainbow a big breeze and WHOOSH! I'm there. It was really weird."

Harmony looked back at Sandy and smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry, I was ignoring you wasn't I? I'm sorry."

Sandman shook his head and smiled while a stop sign appeared above his head.

"That's a cool trick but can you talk?"

Sandman shook his head sadly and Harmony nodded understandingly, "Oh, well that's okay I'll just need to brush up on my charade skills."

"Getting close to pole! Be ready for landing! There, is that enough warning?"

Hope and Harmony laughed with Jack, Sandy, and even Tooth chuckling with them while Bunny just scowled and folded his arms. When the sleigh took a downward plunge Hope screamed her lungs out the moment her butt lifted from the seat and held Kathryn for dear life. Kathryn was having the time of her life. It was a wonderful feeling and Harmony stored the notion to ask Santa for more rides in the sleigh later. The screams of both girls filled the sleigh and North smiled when he looked back and Kathryn was screaming in joy.

"You like sleigh?"

"Like it? WHOO, I LOVE IT!"

When the sleigh came to a stop in the workshop Hope was nearly trembling with shock and had a grimace on her face. Kathryn was holding her shoulder laughing like a maniac at the adrenaline rushing through her veins.

"Oh man, why doesn't everyone travel that way?"

"You think that's fun, I should take you flying one day with me," Jack exclaimed with a mischievous smile.

"You can fly?"

"Well…it's not me that does the flying. I just catch the wind and it carries me everywhere. We're good friends."

"That's awesome! Hey, Hope how does wind riding sound."

Hope shook her head and whimpered, "No way!"

"Oh, did it really bother you that much?"

"I just don't like flying and you know that! Ever since you took me on that dumb coaster."

Harmony that had been sweet and comforting threw her head back and laughed, "Yeah I remember. You got to admit, Hope your face, it was pretty funny."

"Wasn't funny when I was on it though," Hope muttered.

"I'm sorry," Harmony said once she had calmed down and she hugged her friend again.

"It's okay; it's good to have you back. I thought I'd lost you," Hope said tears stinging at the corners of her eyes.

Harmony smiled and her eyes glazed over with tears as she hugged her friend, "I thought so to. You made a mistake, we all do. I forgive you for it, I'm not perfect either. It's just…why didn't you tell me?"

Harmony looked hope straight in the eyes as the colors on her jacket dimmed and swirled into a mixture of dark and gray tinted colors.

"You know that I would always have your back. Why didn't you tell me?"

Hope shook her head and shrugged her shoulders unsure of how to answer the very legit question.

"I don't know. I felt so scared and I thought for whatever reason no one could help me. I thought you wouldn't understand and you would leave me because I wasn't strong enough."

Harmony shook her head and hugged her friend tightly, "Don't you EVER think that. You are my best friend! Nothing could have torn me apart from you. But it doesn't matter anymore, "Kathryn said with a smile, "We're together and we're alive. That's all that matters."

Mother Nature grinned and wiped the tears from her eyes, "Yeah. Your right."

Harmony grinned and added, "You look very pretty all naturalized."

Hope giggled and looked up into Harmony's grinning face, "You think so?"

"I've always thought so. I just wish you'd seen it. Oh, were holding up traffic, sorry guys."

The two giggling hopped out of the sleigh and followed the others through the workshop.

"No. Way. Dude, this place is ginormous!"

Hope watched with a reminiscent smile as Harmony wandered off and looked around like a kid at a candy shop while she followed Sandy and the others. Harmony was so entrance with the shop she wandered from the group then didn't look where she was going and she tripped on one of the elves that scurried underneath a table when it was free from her leg.

"Oof! What the- What are you doing under there?"

Harmony peered under the table at the group of elves that were gulping down mugs of eggnog and munching on cookies. Once they saw her they all froze mid bite and swallow and Harmony not sure what to do just dropped the table cloth and stood up and walked away…right into Phil the yeti.

"Oh sorry…"

Her words were lost when she looked up at the furry creature that was Phil.

"Whoa. You're a…big fellah aren't ya," Harmony said with a nervous smile.

"Kath-rine," North called out and Harmony practically ran and ducked behind him when she saw him as a child would do to their grandfather.

"What are you afraid of?"

Harmony stepping out from behind North stood straighter and answered, "I'm not scared I was just a little shocked when I saw…um…"

"Phil," North said.

"Phil! Ah, Phil, yes, I was just a bit shocked when I saw…Phil. Sorry about crashing into you Phil."

Phil just said something in what sounded like mindless baby ramblings just in a lower tone voice and walked away.

"Come, we have much to discuss with you and your friend."

North laid a hand on her shoulder and led her away and through the factory. Harmony was captivated by every moving thing and creature as they walked past; hundreds of furry creatures like Phil were making toys at stations.

"I thought elves made the toys?"

North leaned down and whispered, "We just let them believe that."

Harmony then saw a pair of elves stick a piece of rusty metal into an electrical outlet and electrocute themselves.

"Oh my god, are they okay?!"

North laughed and patted her back, "Do not worry, they are fine. Do stupid things like that every day."

When the walk was over they reunited with the group all gathered in a huge room with rising pillars and a huge globe sitting in the middle of it.

"Hey, it's a small world after all."

"Really," Hope said with a chortle.

"I couldn't resist."

North stood in front of the assembly about to start the meeting when another one of those furry creatures came up to him and he sighed and tiredly talked with it. Harmony was watching as Sandy was practically chugging glass after glass of eggnog.

"Sandy, that's a lot of eggnog."

Sandy just smiled and finished the cup he was on and grabbed a new one.

"Sandy loves eggnog."

"I can see that," Harmony said with a grin at Sandy then a smile at tooth.

Her little baby teeth were fluttering around Harmony pulling at hair and cloths and tooth tsked.

"I think we should change you out of your clothes."

"What," Harmony asked a bit louder than intended considering everyone except North who was deep in conversation with a furry creature took notice.

"She did the same to me," Hope whispered and Harmony looked almost horrified when she saw that look she knew all too well from her mother when she wanted her to try something new on.

"I just think that for a female guardian you should dress to impress! Especially with all the competition."

Harmony smiled nervously at tooth and shook her head a bit more enthusiastic than she meant to be.

"No, no, I hardly think that's necessary. Thank you for the thought, but I was never one to impress. I would much rather stay in these."

"But, Hope didn't mind and look how lovely she looks. Think of how lovely you would look in a dress like that…OOH, but it would be longer and flare out at the bottom and have a jacket over it."

Hope knew Kathryn better than anyone and even as she was now they were no different and she knew that Kathryn hated attention for her clothing. She didn't like getting dressed up or fussed over.

"Tooth, I really think it's best if her clothes were left alone. These are her favorite clothes."

Harmony nodded in agreement and sent a silent look of thanks at Hope before returning back to Tooth. Tooth looked a little saddened and Harmony immediately apologized not wanting to hurt tooth's feelings.

"Tooth, I appreciate the thought I just don't like getting dressed up."

Tooth nodded but she insisted on brushing and doing her hair. Harmony figured she could endure at least that for Tooth and stood still as tooth combed her hair free of tangles and put it into a high ponytail then braided it.

"Tooth, what the furry things are making the toys."

"Those are yeti's honey. They help North like my baby teeth help me. There now, now we can see that face! Your hair was hiding your face and you're eyes."

When Tooth jolted in the air both girls jumped and became slightly scared at how excited tooth was.

"Ooh, I almost forgot. Open your mouths! I want to see those teeth!"

They hardly had a choice when Tooth's fingers jammed into their mouths and she gazed over their teeth. Hope was first and Harmony almost thought of running behind North again as Hope spluttered and kept letting out incoherent sounds.

"Good, your teeth are healthy and happy but be sure you brush after every meal."

Harmony almost stumbled onto the floor when Tooth zoomed in out of nowhere it seemed and stuck her fingers in her mouth and stared at her teeth. The horrified shriek that Tooth let out made her cringe and Jack and Hope turned to look at Tooth as she gazed scared and horrified into her mouth.

"When is the last time you flossed!"

Harmony tried to respond but the best she could do was let out similar noises that Hope had with Tooth's fingers still in her mouth.

"You get to flossing! Your teeth are so beautiful but you need to floss them to attain perfect oral hygienic health."

Harmony nodded and rolled her jaw when Tooth finally retracted her fingers. Baby teeth flew in her face and waggled fingers at her and chirped in an authorities manner and Tooth shushed them and led them away saying she already got the point across. North finally finished talking to the yeti and was shaking his head heavily and muttering something in Russian.

"Now, we get down to business."

" 'bout time," Bunny muttered who had been fuming in the corner becoming increasingly impatient.

Sandy holding a glass of eggnog floated to North's side and tooth was talking to her baby teeth about teeth collecting until North caught her attention again and she flew beside Bunny. Jack was off to the side on the left side near Hope but sitting on a desk near the globe swinging his staff between his hands.

North grabbed the book and as Jack saw the Yeti's and elves with instruments he stood and said, "Hey North, can we not do the whole parade thing. I don't think the girls want to see it."

North scowled but waved the yetis and elves away one of the elves throwing their tiny instruments on the ground. Harmony smile but gazed confused at the book held in North's hand. Hope did the same next to her.

"What's that?"

"This is book of guardians. We use to inaugurate new guardians, yes?"

"Um, new guardians," Mother Nature asked warily.

"Yes, you and your friend there are new guardians."

"It's Harmony, Santa. If I may be so bold in asking why in the world are you making us guardians?"

North arched an eyebrow and slammed the book shut with one hand.

"Manny chose the two of you to be guardians."

"Manny," Harmony asked confused.

"Man in moon," North said pointing to the full moon peeking in the open hatch in the ceiling.

"But why would he choose us to be guardians," Mother Nature asked.

"The Man in the Moon must think that you guys have what it takes," Jack said with a smirk.

"For what," Harmony asked becoming increasingly interested.

"To help us defeat a new enemy?"

"New enemy, so, it's not Pitch."

"As it now stands, no, Pitch is no problem to us. But, we have a serious situation that Manny thinks we need two new guardians to help us defeat."

Hope looked very unsure of this news while Harmony was open and almost carefree about the idea. The guardians defeated Pitch they could defeat anything else, right?

"Okay, so what is this new threat? A buddy of Pitch's?"

"No, not buddy. Woman in black with red hair, calls herself heat. Or as humans call her global warming."

"Global warming," Harmony said with a chuckle, "That's it! Global warming is a process that takes millions of years. What is she threatening to do, she can't do anything. Can she?"

"We do not know. But, this is why you are here now."

Harmony looked at Mother Nature and Mother Nature looked up and said, "I have a feeling it's not going to be as easy as it sounds."

**And that's the end of that chapter! Please let us know what you thought of it by posting a review. I-If of course you want to. They are always appreciated of course. I just want to thank a couple of people real quick though: **

**xTheDarkShadowsx and Roseheart4271 for your wonderful comments and your patience while we work on our chapters. **

**All of the rest of you who have favorited or put on watch for this story thus far. I want to thank you for your patience as well as we, especially I, am not the quickest writer and I occasionally go through long bouts of writer's block.**

**Last of All I really want to thank Movielover01 for everything that she has done to help contribute to this story (this chapter was hers by the way). With out her, this story wouldn't be at all as she was the one to help come up with the idea for it. Thank you so much for putting up with me and my laziness/business. I really appreciate it. **

**Thank you all, I hope you guys are looking forward to the next chapter, as I am looking forward to typing it. **


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